Fresh from the vein
by hildekitten
Summary: The 4th story of my post Sonata series, follow up to On the Prowl. When a woman Mick is supposed to find ends up dead the investigation leads to a sinister side of vampirism. Mick, Beth, Ben and Ophelia  OC  are the main characters.


**Near noon**  
Mick is sitting at his desk, the man in front of him is trying to keep himself together. There's a small boy sitting in the sofa in the corner, Ophelia is trying to keep him occupied while her brother talks to his father.  
"So when did you wife disappear exactly."  
"3 weeks ago, to the day. I filed a missing person's report with the L.A.P.D. after 24 hours, but there is no trace of her, it's like they've given up on her all together."  
"Before she disappeared, did she do or say anything unusual?"  
"No, nothing at all. We were happy as we always have been, she adores Thomas, she would never just have left our son. Something must have happened." He fights back tears.  
Mick looks at him reassuringly "Mr Williams, I promise I'll do my best to find her for you and your son."  
Ophelia watches as the man and her brother stand, and smiles at the little boy as he joins his father. The small child smiles at her "Goodbye Lililia, peas find mummy."  
"I promise my brother and I will do our best Thomas, really, I promise."  
He reaches his small arms out to her and gives her a hug. She hugs him back, ruffling his hair with her fingers, it makes him giggle. His father smiles at the scene despite himself before taking Thomas by the hand and walking out.  
"I never knew you're so good with kids sis."  
"Yeah me neither. So where do we start?"  
"You're going to start by going to class, and I'll go see Logan to see if she has used any credit cards and we'll go over the rest of the info tonight."

**Logan's basement:**  
Logan is looking at the many screens he has set up, whilst Mick is looking at all the new toys he has displayed on the shelves.  
"This is odd. Her credit card has been used, but if I look at the ATM camera, it's not her who's using it.  
Mick leans over to see the photo on the screen. "Can you run find out who that guy is?"  
"Yeah but it'll take time." Logan stretches out one hand whilst typing, smiling when Mick presses a wad of cash in it. "I'll give you a call if I know more."

**Ben's office:**  
Ophelia wanders in, cheerfully knocking on the open and waving to Beth and Ben, there's a sound of metal clanging together from the bangles on her left wrist.  
"Hey guys! I bring lunch! As usual."  
"Oh I forgot to tell you, I'm going to have lunch with my mum. Could you take a picture of her and me quickly? I'm sure she'd like to have a picture of us together, I know I would." Beth grins.  
"Sure. Well I guess you'll have to have lunch with me then Ben, I've not eaten yet either.  
He smiles "I'm sure I'll live." Walking over to Ophelia to kiss her on the cheek in greeting he lifts up her arm "wow do you need more bracelets? How many have you got on there?"  
"34, always room for more I'm sure."  
Beth gets her bag "I'll see you in a couple of hours Ben and then we can go over that case some more. Are you coming Lia?"  
Ophelia nods and wanders out waving at Ben purposely to make the metal bracelets clang together cheerfully.  
He rolls his eyes but smiles nonetheless.

…

Beth's mum is waiting at the stairs in the hall, smiling when she sees them come down. She looks like an older version of Beth and hugs her daughter warmly in greeting.  
"Hi mum. This is Ophelia, my boyfriend's sister, she's a photography student so I asked her to take a picture of us both."  
Extending a hand Beth's mother smiles at Ophelia "Hello I'm Beth's mum Sylvia. Pleasure to meet you. Actually I'm hoping Beth's father and I get to meet your illusive brother at some point as well!" She grins cheerfully. "Photography huh, what year are you in?"  
"Actually I'm doing my masters, I got my bachelors in Paris, France."  
"Well I'm sure those photos will look fabulous then!"  
Beth smiles and walks out with her mother, arm in arm, Ophelia trailing after them, camera at the ready.

**Meanwhile at the morgue**  
Guillermo is bagging up orders for several vampires as Mick walks in, sniffing the air when he senses the other vampire approaching.  
"Hey Mick."  
"Hey, I've got your call."  
"Yeah, she came in this morning. Found dead in a dumpster." He pulls back the sheets, the throat of the woman slashed.

**Mick voice-over****  
**"I know this woman, her husband was in my office this morning, asking me to look into her disappearance."

"A vampire did this."  
Guillermo nods "that's why I texted you. She's the second victim like this that has come in this month."  
"Which cops are working on this? I need to know who to look out for on the street, they're bound to be thinking serial now."  
"Detective Rodriguez and Lt Davis. ADA Talbot's team. Apparently he made a special request for this case."  
"Great. That's Beth's boss…"  
They found this picture in her hand, she was holding it. It's a picture of little Thomas Williams.  
Mick looks at it, his features hardening and pockets it before stalking off again.

**Mick voice-over  
**"Seems like I found my missing person, just wish I would have been able to bring her back to her family alive though. Poor kid, having his mother taken from him in such a horrible way."

**Ben's office**  
Ophelia wanders back into the office, plugging her camera in Beth's computer and uploading the photos.  
"So what kind of person is Beth's mum?"  
"She's like an older Beth, so it's hard not to like her." She smiles. "I got you peanut butter jelly sandwiches for lunch by the way. I hope you like those."  
"Yeah, I do, thanks."  
She gives him a brown paper lunch bag and gets out a thermos for herself. Ben pulls up an extra chair to his desk and smiles at her when she sits down and pours blood in the cup he hands her. Suddenly she seems to blank out, staring into the distance, her eyes going pitch black.

_There's a basement, it's dimly lighted. Mattresses on the floor. The scent of fear, blood. Stolen blood. And death. Blue eyes and fangs on a shadowy figure. A man. He laughs, nastily, there's only evil in the laughter, and sadism. The blood is stolen, unwillingly, brutally. By teeth and knives in take-away cups._

She gasps as the vision fades back into reality, and realises that Ben has her arm in his hand, having stopped her pouring, preventing the cup from overflowing and spilling blood over his desk. He lets go when she steadies herself again, looking at her with concern in his eyes.  
"Your eyes, they're not blue like other vampires."  
Blinking her eyes turn to their normal shade, looking away from him.  
"What just happened here Ophelia?"  
"I… get these flashes."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Glimpses of other times. It can be the past, present or the future, but it's always messy and cryptic."  
"What did you see?"  
"I'm not sure…"

**Mick's apartment**  
Mick is busy looking through several papers at his desk, there's photos of different women laid out. Josef is standing next to him.  
"So what's going on?"  
"This morning a guy shows up at my door with his son in tow, hiring me to help him locate his wife who has disappeared. Logan found out that this case is similar to several other disappearances, seven in the past few months, and now two of these women has shown up dead with her throat ripped out and a whole lot of her blood missing. Women disappearing out of their routine. Kidnapped and eventually killed by a vampire, there's five that haven't shown up dead yet. And Talbot's team is on the case, which doesn't make things better.  
"Hmm, well at least we'll have an in on the investigation. Beth works for him after all."  
"Yeah, there is that."  
They look up as the front door opens and Ophelia comes running in. "There's some vampire hoarding women for their blood."  
"We know, how did you find out?"  
She looks at him "well you aren't the only one that's a certified p.i. you know."  
Josef interrupts the argument before it starts "the question is, who is behind it, and what are we going to do about it?"  
Mick looks pensive "We need to find out who the new blood dealers on the market are, and check those off one by one."  
"Great, who do we know is a big fan of ordering in?" Josef brainstorms along.  
"Logan Griffith, the man who never leaves his basement of course." Ophelia says matter of factly.  
"Logan didn't recognise the guy that used Mrs Williams credit account though."  
"One of the murder victims is our missing persons case?"  
"Yeah."  
"Have you told her husband yet?"  
"No, I want to get to her killer first."  
Ophelia nods.  
"There's 5 more women alive where he keeps them, in a basement. You'll need to take the kukhri."  
Josef opens his mouth to say something to her, but Ophelia picks up her book bag and walks out. Missing out on commenting on Ophelia, he turns to her brother instead.  
"You see, retail blood only ends up being problematic, I keep on telling you this. By the way, your sister is distinctively strange, you know that don't you? It's creepy how she always knows things."  
_Mick voice-over_  
"Strange as she might be, I'd like to know exactly how she knows all of this just as well as Josef."

**Logan's basement**  
_You insult me in my home, you're forgiven this time  
Things go well, your eyes dilate, you shake, and I'm high?  
Look in my eyes deep and watch the clouds change with time  
20 hours won't print my picture milk carton size  
Carton size, carton size, carton size__  
_Logan is playing World of Warcraft happily, only interrupting his game to let in Mick and Josef, muttering darkly all the while. "Hey Mick, do you need more work done? And can it wait? I'm about to uncover epic loot!"  
"Who do you use for on house delivery Logan?"  
"I thought you got your blood via Guillermo?"  
"I do, but I am wondering who you are using."  
"I use several suppliers, but lately I've used this new service, their card is on the fridge. You can get direct take-away from them too, but I've not done that yet, why would I go to them if I can get home delivery huh. They deliver in these dinky take-away cups, it makes me think of real food!"  
Mick takes the card off the fridge. "Thanks."  
"Hey I still need that number!"  
"Trust me, you don't."  
Mick walks back up the stairs, leaving Logan staring after him disgruntled before turning his attention back to the screen.

**A house on the outskirts of town**  
_Murder for the money  
Yea murder everyday  
Murder every inch of the goddamm way  
Murder in the morning yea murder in the night  
Murder every single moment of your god forsaken life  
Yea its murder for the money  
Yea murder for the money  
_There aren't many houses on this street. Build far apart from each other, one of those streets where everyone keeps to themselves. Mick is standing outside, the card he took off Logan's refrigerator door in hand. "Fresh from the vein it reads". Ringing the doorbell he takes a step back. The vamp opening the door is looking like he's in his early twenties, dressed up all Emo and brooding.  
"Hi, what can I do you for?"  
"Got any A positive?"  
"Yeah, come on in."  
_Mick voice-over_  
"This guy is young, there's not much scent of decay around him."

He follows the youngster into the living room, which has been turned into a waiting area with counter where payments are handled. There's a vampire watching tv, it's the same guy from the ATM footage.  
"Ah a new customer, how much can we do you for, I'll go get it out of the cellar."  
"Actually, I'm here to put a stop to you guys kidnapping and murdering women, and take you out of business."  
The guy laughs, and there's a sound of a sword being drawn coming from behind Mick. Before the youngster can strike he's turned and grabbed his arm, deflecting a blow. Giving the opportunity to the other vamp to draw his own sword. Before he can even strike at Mick there's the sound of a gun and he staggers back. At the same the younger vampire Mick is struggling with looses his head in one swift blow. Blinking Mick stares over the now headless body in the eyes of his sister, seeing Beth next to her, gun in hand. Letting go of the corpse and he catches the second kukhri sword effordlessly tossed at him. And in the same swift movement he turns, facing the remaining vampire and dealing with him in one final blow.  
"How did you know where to look?" He turns to his sister.  
"Please, like Logan wouldn't have the details of a take-away that delivers at home in his computer. I brought Beth because she's on this case."  
"How did you know about the swords?"  
"Lucky guess." She wipes them both on a cloth before sheeting them again on her back.  
Mick turns to leave the room "let's get these women out of the basement."  
The three of them run down the stairs, forcing down the door locking the women in their dimly lit prison. They're all terrified, some are screaming in terror when they come in. Beth looks shocked, holding her hands in front of her mouth. All of them have cut and bite wounds and are in terrible shape.  
"I need to ring an ambulance!"  
"We need to get the cleaner in here first to deal with the bodies Beth."  
Ophelia whispers into her ear, adding to her brother's sentence "we can't let the authorities discover decapitated vamp corpses."  
She nods and they all start untying the women, reassuring them that they're safe now and that help is on the way soon. A petite blonde flings her arms around Mick's neck, bursting out in tears. "He killed them, right here because they fought back."  
"It's ok, he can never hurt you again."  
Taking out his mobile phone he rings the cleaner for assistance, leaving Beth and Ophelia with the women while he goes upstairs to wait for them.

**Less than an hour later the scene is bustling with activity.**  
Ben Talbot is talking to the five survivors while they are receiving immediate medical attention at the scene, before being brought to the hospital.  
He leaves the rest of the interview to Detective Rodriguez and Beth, realising that women are probably going to get a better result than he will and directs his attention to the siblings instead, looking disgruntled.  
"Why am I not surprised to find you and your sister here Mick?"  
"Hey we didn't go behind your back, we involved Beth in this case as soon as it started overlapping with our own missing person's investigation." Mick sounds annoyed at being told off.  
"Yeah sure. I'll need written statements from the both of you on my desk by noon tomorrow. Make sure to sort it out with Beth, you're good at that after all."  
Turning he walks back to the rest of his team, while the women are being helped in several ambulances.  
Mick watches at him go and then hugs his sister to him as they walk back to his car. On the way he quickly stops to run to Beth and press a kiss on her cheek.

**Mick voice-over****  
**"And now for the hardest part, telling a man his wife will never come home to him and his son again…"

**L.A. county morgue**  
Mick, Beth and Ophelia walk into Guillermo's office with Mr Williams.  
"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asks, his voice kind, concerned.  
"Yes, I have to see her, say goodbye. I have to do this." The man is grief stricken, tears staining his cheeks.  
Guillermo respectfully withdraws himself in the office, giving the man space and time to say farewell to his wife.  
Mick carefully pulls back the sheet, making sure he keeps the horrible throat wound covered. Her husband gasps, holding his hands in front of his mouth, sobbing before taking a deep breath and nodding. Ophelia nods too, reaching up to squeeze his shoulder before disappearing into the office to confirm a positive ID to Guillermo. Wishing paperwork would run to hell all the way, quietly and wordless under her breath.  
Mick walks back out with the broken man.  
"What will I tell Thomas Mr St-John? Miss Turner"  
"Tell him that the men who hurt his mother can never hurt anyone again, and that his mother loved him more than anything." He hands the man the photograph of Thomas. "She was holding this when they found her."  
"She really did love him, and you, all the other women we freed said so, they said you were all she ever talked about." Beth adds.  
He looks at it for a long moment before nodding "yes, yes I will tell him that."  
Beth and Mick watch him walk out again, a broken man. Instinctively they reach out of the others hand simultaneously. Smiling at each other when their fingers intertwine.

**Mick's apartment**  
They're sitting on the rooftop, on a blanket spread out. Beth's sitting against him, and he has an arm around her, tenderly. Candles are burning all around them, while they sit there and share a bottle of wine together.  
"I'm so glad those guys got caught and dealt with. Before they could kill any more women. It was horrible what they did."  
"I just wish we had been there sooner, before any fatalities. I keep on thinking about little Thomas Williams, having to grow up without a mother."  
"Yeah I know, that's terrible. It's a good thing Ophelia came to get me to go raid the place with you guys, because otherwise Talbot really would have had a fit. He was asking a lot of questions again. Thankfully I was able to give him the answers he wanted this time. I'm sure he'll stop being disgruntled about it once I give him the paperwork tomorrow."  
"Talbot should just be happy the case is closed." Mick sounds annoyed.  
_Mick voice-over_  
"At least Talbot got his answers, I'd like to get some of my own. To questions I want to ask my sister when the right time presents itself."

Beth strokes her fingers through his hair tenderly before continuing, trying to cheer him up. "Speaking of Ben, you can rest assured about that worry of yours that he has romantic intentions towards me. He definitely sees me like nothing more than a colleague and a friend."  
"How do you know?" It seems to work, because his face lights up and he smiles widely.  
"Haven't you noticed? He's crazy about your sister!"  
"Great…" Mick scowls, obviously unhappy at that news, his mood ruined again.

**The rooftop of an apartment building**  
_What would happen if we kissed?  
Would your tongue slip past my lips?  
Would you run away?  
Would you stay?  
Or would I melt into you?  
Mouth to mouth, lust to lust,  
Spontaneously combust__  
_She's looking at the sun rising over L.A., shielding her face with her hands.  
Three stories down in a room Benjamin Talbot sits up suddenly, awoken from his sleep, sliding out of bed and grabbing a t-shirt before leaving his apartment, barefoot and dressed in PJ trousers and the grey tee he just put on.  
Slowly he walks up the stairs to the roof, opening the door and gazing into the sunrise, seeing the figure of the red haired girl looking out at it, shielding her face with her hands.  
"What are you doing here Ophelia?" He asks while walking up to her and taking a seat right next to her.  
"I'm watching the sun come up. It's a different view here than my brother's place."  
He smiles and wraps an arm around her, watching the sun climb the sky with her.  
"How did you know I'd wake up and join you?"  
"I'm clairvoyant remember."  
"Did you know I was going to do this?" He leans in and kisses her softly.  
After the kiss breaks she smiles and looks up at him "what took you so long?"

**Song list**  
Alice in Chains "Sludge Factory"  
Morphine "Murder for the Money"  
Fiona Apple "If we Kissed"


End file.
